Throwback Thursday: Green Flag for the Peoria TT National (1968)
Larry Lawrence | October 20, 2022
A stunning field of talented riders in that year’s Peoria TT
In maybe one of the oldest Throwback Thursday’s we’ve ever posted, we travel back more than a half a century, 54 years to be exact, to 1968 and that summer’s Peoria TT National This photo shows the start of the 20-lap AMA Grand National. In front of a crowd estimated to be 15 to 20,000 strong you see an incredible field of riders that includes (from left to right) Fred Nix (No. 95), Gene Romero (No. 20), Bart Markel (No. 4), Jim Corpe (No. 48), Sonny Burres (No. 69) and Dick Mann (No. 2) starting from the front row. Visible on the second row are Cal Rayborn, Ben Breeding (No. 36), Skip Van Leeuwen, Gary Nixon (No. 1) and Chuck Palmgren (No. 38). Mann on his BSA took the early lead, but when his bike developed a misfire, it was Harley-Davidson star Bart Markel coming up to take over the lead. The leading duo ran close for much of the national, but it was Markel holding on for victory over Mann. Sonny Burres took third on a Triumph.
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